For years people talked about how Wisconsin's former Governor Tommy Thompson had an ongoing affair and his wife, Sue-ann Thompson looked the other way. By now you've likely heard the story about how talk show host Charlie Sykes left his wife (Diane) and two children to take up with another woman (Janet Riordan) who he included on his radio show and later married. Or then there's the one about how Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke had a hot love affair (explaining his excessive county travel expenses) which resulted in a love child — some have speculated it was with former WTMJ anchor woman Contessa Brewer but the question of who Clarke's other woman is remains unknown. Or the story of how Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher left his wife and four children to pursue an affair with then Journal-Sentinel reporter Jessica McBride (now Bucher) who he later married.

Whether you buy into any of these rumors (we know for a fact one of them is true), they certainly do add a certain soap opera pizzaz to politics.

But the question has to be asked, is there a benefit to this sort of info coming out into the public domain?

Today, we ask our readers to talk back on these sorts of stories. Is it beneficial, and if so, how?

UPDATE: One reader wrote in to say he's a friend of Contessa Brewer and there is no love child with her.

21 Comments

Is it beneficial? Hmm. Well, I’ve never been to this blog before. (Nice doggie)
I clicked on your headline because it appeared in Lefty Blogs right next to mine and we both have the word “Love” in our titles.

Maybe that info seems irrelevant but I think not. Wow. I did NOT know that about Jessica McBride, not way up here in Eau Claire.
My “love” post refers to the ban, about politicians attempts to define, limit and deny love in the lives of others. You bet your butt this kind of information is relevant. When conservative hypocrits indulge in self-serving selective morality that hurts other people, nothing could be more relevant. So homosexuality is really bad, but adultery and child abandonment is just great.
If gay and lesbian couples are supposed to resist their “urges” then Paul and Jessica should have too. They want to be leaders? then lead on, “Mr. and Mrs.” Bucher.

Okay – I got a little ticked off. I do think the Bucher couple has it backwards. An honest committed gay relationship would seem quite morally proper to me – sneaking and lying to your wife and kids, not so much. So the ban seems very mean-spirited to me. Why can’t they just let people alone?

mkelover:

Why not leave this to tabloids? Why do I care who Charlie Sykes is married to or not married to?

And if you’re going to go down this road, why not take a look at the other side of the aisle instead of just focusing on conservatives? Front and center would be Michael Jackson-McGee Junior.

There are far more issues that are crippling Milwaukee that should be talked about but instead you want to talk about the love life of a few local conservatives.

Bill Stocks:

I think that the rumors are indeed interesting for us to read. The only problem is that we then formulate an opinion on somebody, about something that might not be true. It is a fine line to cross.

mkelover,
The difference with the Jr McGee case is that it’s already gotten a very public airing.

It’s all hush-hush with the republican side though. It seems more than a little odd that those who work so hard to preach morality are those whose morals are more slippery than others.

Bill,
I’m pretty sure these are all true. I think Sheriff Clarke needs to answer the question as to whether or not he does have a love child and whether that love child is with Contessa Brewer or someone else.

mkelover:

Why does the Sheriff need to answer a question about whether he has a love child??? How does that have ANYTHING to do with being sheriff of Milwaukee County??

The reason why Jackson-McGee-Junior got attention is because a) it was in a court of law under oath and b) it was proven by DNA to in fact be his child because the baby momma took him to court!

The rumors about Thompson, Clarke, etc are just that… RUMORS. Show me some DNA proof and I’ll retract my statement.

It’s amazing that this is what left-wing moonbats spend their time thinking about…maybe if they actually thought of ideas to form a PLAN instead of being the party who is simply against everything they would actually make progress this November!

Bill Stocks:

All I have got to say to that Jim is that Mrs. Clarke AND Contessa are real beautiful women. It would be hard for any man to keep that under control. ha

gottagonow:

How funny Clarkes love child is brought up after all we have been through where was that plastered when we were trying to get Bobot into office. Holt take it and run, ask Clarke why he flies to NYC on ( of course ) county money once a month. Please ask him this, I want to see a dick cry.

mkelover:

How on earth does that have ANY effect on how the Sheriff runs his deparment???? (assuming it’s true which it is NOT).

It depends, but generally, no – it’s not that useful. Had Charlie Sykes jumped up and down in support of the Republican “Defense of Marriage Act,” his situation would be relevant.

Back at the Shepherd Express in 1998, then-Editor Joel McNally was hot for the McBride-Bucher affair, which we had all heard about. He wanted reporter Scott Sloan to track the story down for a gossip item but Scott and I both thought it was an invasion of her privacy, not a nice thing to do to a fellow reporter. Scott did a nice job dragging his feet on it and it was never printed. A good thing, too, because right around that time she and I had a few discussions [disagreements] about our reporting on Deputy Police Chief Monica Ray. Had we done anything about Jessica and Bucher, it would have looked a bit malicious. I’ve always thought we did the right thing by respecting Jessica’s privacy and being professionally courteous.

gottagonow:

It doesn’t have to do anything in the way he runs the department but it does have to do with that budget that is created for the Sheriff’s Department with the money given by the people of Milwaukee County. Cover ups all you people want to do is cover up the truths and realities of what is really going on.

mkelover15:

Wow, you really are a conspiracy theorist. You\’ll believe anything, as long as it makes Clarke look bad. How do you find the time/energy to be so negative?

It plays into questions about the sheriff’s travel budget. I’m sure that’s the reference above.

Jody – you’re right on from Eau Claire. It would have been interesting to see how the discussion evolved had Bucher won last month. “Defending marriage,” eh Paul? Let’s hope neither Falk or Van Hollen will ever be faced with defending that piece of unconstitutional law.

And I hope Jessica’s not drumming up support for the amendment on air or in her blog. Charlie Sykes, for one, has been very critical of the amendment (he says it’s bad strategy for Republicans and worries whether it’ll backfire by galvanizing a big voter turnout to “No”), though I’m not sure whether he has officially taken a position on it. Last I heard he said he was undecided, which I took to mean that he was personally opposed to it but wasn’t exactly going to give his radio show over to people fighting to stop “Defense of Marriage.”

Bill Stocks:

Okay, I admit it: When I was married, I thought Contessa was hot.

Mr K:

I am friend of Contessa’s… there is no love child… this is a really really ridiculous rumor. Even more ridiculous if you know Contessa. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Monte:

That is not the point, Stocks. (But you are right, she is a looker.)

Mr Bob:

I had to do a double-take when I saw this article come up on my screen! At first I had to laugh, like many people, I had heard the \”Tommy-lover boy\” rumors before, along with rumors about innumerable other public figures from politics, sports, business, etc. (From both sides of politics as well!) Sykes and Bucher are old news-c\’mon they married their \”mistresses\” (whether there was adultry or not- I don\’t know and don\’t really care!)Your posting naming Ms. Brewer and her possible love child seems pretty irresponsible and according to the follow-up posts, it is also dead wrong.

Bob,
The focus of the story is that these are some of the political rumors out there. Perhaps you missed the title of the story.

It’s interesting that you wrote in and (from the rights perspective) even admitted the Sykes-Riordan and McBride-Bucher trysts. Usually people from the right are in denial and judging from the personalized rant which you followed up with (no, we’re not going to publish flame wars based on fiction) you’re part of the group that believes any problems, no matter how long, are the fault of democrats. This is the same delusion that allows people like you to claim Clinton (who left office 6 years ago) is responsible for the nuclear test in North Korea or to claim that it was Ament who left office 4 years ago is responsible for the countys current fiscal crisis currently masterminded by Scott Walker.

C Davis:

mkelover you asked these questions: Why does the Sheriff need to answer a question about whether he has a love child? How does that have ANYTHING to do with being sheriff of Milwaukee County?

Answer: A married public official having a love child has everything to do with being Sheriff of Milwaukee County.

Proper public and private conduct are requirements of public office. First, when David Clark placed his hand on the Bible and took oath of office, he made implicit promises to the public based upon Judeo-Christian values and explicit oaths to the public that he would serve. Hence the saying, to whom much is given, much is required.

When we select our public servants, we seek qualities that are exemplar – honesty, devotion, and integrity. Most of us would never seek out degenerate behavior in people whom we place our trust.

Whether we’re in a position of power or not, we are accountable and must answer for our actions. Think about it? Would you elect a crack addict, philanderer or a prostitute to public office? So in short, what we all do matters.

Mom2KidsMortgage:

These types of “scandal” stories are only beneficial / relevant to the extent someone has set themselves up as a fine, upstanding pillar of propriety / society. I refer to the recently-broken story of Jessica McBride’s affair with Milwaukee Police Chief Flynn. Obviously, Mrs. Bucher has not set herself up as modeling behaviour to which we would aspire. Chief Flynn is a different story. Unfortunately for him, he is supposed to always do the right thing, like Clark Kent or Elliot Ness. An “untouchable”, if you will. Admittedly, this is a very difficult standard, so I’m willing to give Chief Flynn the benefit of the doubt. This was perhaps an aberration for him. For Mrs. Bucher, such is not the case. Indeed, this reflects a pattern on her part, at the very least, of poor choices, and at worst, a complete disregard for the sanctity of her own marriage and commitments, and the marriage and commitments of others. I have no sympathy for her.

BOB BITTERS:

Give it a break people ! If you want to go after someone
make it Mr William (the shaft ) Clinton ! He had many
trists, all while he was on company time and then
Pardoned Mark Rich, the husband of one of his Busty
New York girlfriends ! What is important is how one
conducts themselves when on their job ! These same
people probably think LETTERMAN is still funny !
Oh no he did’nt , oh yes he did ! Jack Kennedey is
still remembered as one of the greats . LETS JUST LIVE .